Six Innings Deep

Kenny Rogers just threw one of his nastiest pitches of this bitterly cold afternoon. It was a two-strike curveball to Milton Bradley, who never had a chance as he swung in futility at a ball dipping down and in. I wouldn’t bet against the Rogers, or the Tigers, at this point. For the life of them, the A’s can’t get anything going — and that goes for the entire series. It’s feeling like a Detroit sweep right now, and this excited, towel-waving crowd seems to sense it.

Craig Monroe made no mistake in the 5th, hammering a solo homer.

Meanwhile, the Tigers have extended the lead to 3-0. Craig Monroe, so frustrated over striking out with the bases loaded in the second, made no mistake in the fifth. He led off with a solo homer to left.

Now comes Omar Inge. Or is it Brandon Infante? Some interesting names on this roster. All I know is that they all seem to come through when called upon. It appeared that Harden had rediscovered his control, not walking anyone since the second inning, but he just walked Inge with two out in the sixth — and he’s gone. Manager Ken Macha has made the call for Chad Gaudin.

Harden leaves the field with his customary hurry-up gait. There seem to be about eight A’s fans in the building, tops, so there are no cheers. Harden gets high-fives from nearly everyone in the dugout, which is all very nice, but nobody could say he truly did his job. He needed to be a lot sharper to hang with Kenny Rogers today.